Strollerderby : Woulda Coulda Shoulda

Strollerderby Playdate: Unfortunate Meetings

Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 10:54:00 GMT

And so it goes. You're having a perfectly pleasant afternoon at the park, passing just enough time until husband/wife/partner/babysitter/grandma/landlord comes home and officially takes over sticky granola bar scraping duty, happy that your child's not the one with the snot-gushing nose/sand-throwing problem/scab obsession for once, delighted that you're both refreshed after a real nap/lunch/marathon Dragon Tales session, with enough silence and shade to glance down occasionally at your latest semi-trashy mommy lit/somewhat kinky Cookie magazine/devilishly dirty Ikea catalog, when it happens. Annoying Dad and Clingy Kid slope in through the gate and slide right up next to you in the sand pit. They don't have their own toys/juice boxes/self-contained conversations. One accidental moment of eye contact and you're their new park buddies.

You can choose to evacuate nevermore to return to this particular park, possibly neighborhood/suck it up, put down the guilty pleasure reading and play nice/pretend you can't hear him over the roar of your kid's dump truck sounds. Whatever you do, you're doomed by this interruption, this collision in the midst of Zen parenting. At least you're not alone/kooky/being mocked by other mommies hiding behind trees in the park to avoid Annoying Dad. Here are some other unfortunate meetings that have recently upset the balance of goodness in the universe. Introduce yourselves:

iPhone, meet eau de toilette. And not the fancy smelling kind.

Writer, meet talent consultant, meet Martina, meet more toilette.

Kids, meet more craplastic.

Boobs, meet Facebook.

Strollerderby Playdate: Complete and Utter Early Week Randomness

Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 11:04:00 GMT

You know how you arrive at Monday with a brain packed full of randomness, full of all the stuff you accidentally-on-purpose keep forgetting to add to your weekly to-do list, full of all the stuff you totally meant to do over the weekend but chalked up because of ~~laundry~~ the sweet and delicious lull after hitting the bottle Friday, full of questions about who the fuck is inside that sloth on It's A Big Big World? And you think your thinking that way just because it is Monday. And then you wake up on Tuesday, thinking the same looky-loo stuff? Not to worry. You're not alone.

The blogosphere's abuzz with other parents waxing poetic about lots of very important details and also nearly nothing at all. You've got to click through, if only to justify all the stuff in your head that's funking up any hope of productivity before Wednesday.

First stop, Mom Writes about some kind of hornaaaay junior high encounter that every single smart girl I know's dreamt at least once.

Skip on over to Vindauga for a little list of conversation bits that looks a lot like the one I keep by the phone to remind myself to tell my own BFF.

Next, Rockstar Mommy's making a statement about making statements, having opinions and not taking everything in life so seriously. And the irritating kid who delivers the paper. And something about Tara Reid that's both disturbing and entertaining. Oh, and kittens.

Jump over to see how expertly Mir compares the kidlets to farm animals (and you thought it couldn't be done) and makes me want to drink just to think that I have about twenty more spring breaks to get through.

Then land right here with Amalah,who's talking about two of our favorite things here at Strollerderby, snot and name-calling.

Are you going on and on about complete randomness, either in your head or on your blog? Get it out in the comments, people! Just get it out.

Bratz Dolls Make Barbie Look Reasonable

Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:36:00 GMT

A marketing study was released recently that showed that mothers were looking to toymakers to make more wholesome and conservative toys for our little girls. While, I agree with the results, a study done by AG Properties (Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake etc.) is most likely skewed. (Keep in mind, they also only interviewed mothers, not fathers.)

Mir (from Woulda Coulda Shoulda) wrote a fantastic piece on BlogHer called "Sorry, sweetie... Mommy thinks that doll's too skanky". Mir writes about how she had decided long before she had kids that her children would never own a Barbie, and now she is faced with dolls that make Barbie look wholesome.

Look, we all know Barbie is slutty. I know my Barbie got around. She was always making out with Ken and the Donny Osmond doll that my friend Alison had. I can't even imagine what kind of nastiness these Bratz dolls would get up to, especially now that we have some Misfits action figures (yes, I have a Jerry Only Ken doll).

I was in Target with my niece two weeks ago and she said "My Mommy and Daddy say I can't play with Bratz dolls because they wear too much makeup." I say well played brother. The five year old knows they are inappropriate without having to discuss sleaziness.

Anyway, Mir's post stirred up quite the conversation over on BlogHer. Do Bratz dolls get you riled up too?

Gardasil: Mom Blogger Explains Why She'll Vaccinate Her Daughter

Stefania Pomponi Butler (CityMama) — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 21:06:00 GMT

Recently, Alisyn Cobb wrote about various states proposing bills that would make the new human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, Gardasil, a requirement for girls 13 and under. HPV is a virus that causes cervical cancer.

However you feel about this highly-charged issue, there's no denying that this is a big medical breakthrough. Those of us that have suffered through abnormal paps and painful culposcopies are sitting up and taking notice. Especially if we have daughters.

Mir, the veteran blogger behind of Woulda Coulda Shoulda and Want Not, wrote an eloquent piece for BlogHer about why she will vaccinate her daughter as soon as she is able. She makes the case by saying:

If I have my daughter vaccinated at 9, it's all about disease prevention and nothing more. If I wait until she's older, then the other issues creep in unbidden. If I have my 11-year-old vaccinated just as puberty is coming to roost, I will feel compelled to tie this to issues of her budding sexuality, and perhaps seize on this rather inorganic opportunity to espouse my personal values and embarrass her terribly. If I wait until she's a full-fledged teenager, the unpleasant reality is that---all parenting and values aside, no matter what they are---we may be too late, for one thing, and she may feel compelled to seize on this rather inorganic opportunity to either protest her chastity or tell me what I can do with my values and embarrass us both terribly. She may even---with the invincible wisdom of a teen---insist she doesn't need it.

Read her post and click through all her links. Then join the thoughtful discussion in the comments. It will give you lots to chew on.

[via BlogHer]